- The Dark Sky founders have launched a new forecasting app, Acme Weather
- The new app displays alternative weather forecasts to show weather changes that may occur throughout the day
- It has also added a community reporting tool as well as refined custom notification settings
Remember the days of the Dark Sky weather app before it was disbanded by Apple? Well, its creators are back with an alternative that acknowledges that weather forecasts are often very wrong.
The new weather forecasting platform, called Acme Weather, is now available for download on iOS devices, with plans to bring it to Android already in the works. You can try it with a two-week free trial, and then it requires an annual subscription fee of $25, which works out much cheaper than Dark Sky’s $3.99 monthly fee.
Acme Weather marks the founders’ return to forecasting apps since Apple bought Dark Sky in 2020, whose tools were eventually adopted into the flagship Weather app (which faces scrutiny for its inaccuracies) when Dark Sky was phased out.
But the main selling point of Acme Weather is that it doesn’t just give you one prediction; it gives you alternative weather outcomes to show which direction your local forecast could go. Co-founder Adam Grossman goes into more detail in his blog post and shares the following insights:
“It’s simple: When we looked at the landscape of countless weather apps out there, many of them lovely, we felt unsatisfied. The more we talked to friends and family, the more we heard that many of them did too. And of course, we missed those days as a scrappy little shop.”
Using multiple data sources, including weather prediction models, satellite data and ground station observations, Acme Weather provides a ‘main’ forecast reading, supported by additional forecast lines with alternative outcomes showing possible weather changes (see below).
The black line indicates Acme Weather’s primary forecast, while the faint gray lines highlight the changes that may occur. When the alternate lines are grouped closer together, it indicates that the main forecast is reliable, and when the alternate lines are more spread out, it shows that the weather is likely to change throughout the day. This way you will have a better idea of what to expect and can plan accordingly.
To improve forecast accuracy, Acme Weather has also developed a community reporting feature that lets users submit local weather reports within the app. You can choose from a list of pre-selected weather conditions or even use emojis and Acme will display them in the app for other users in your area to see.
As for other weather apps, I find that most of them haven’t quite hit the nail on the head when it comes to notifications. Even though I use the Met Office app and trust it with my life, I have to remember to check it constantly and sometimes my home screen widget shows wrong data. Acme Weather doubles down on the notifications front, bringing over Dark Sky’s reliable notification system, but with a new twist.
In addition to notifications from community reports, timely rain warnings, and even government-issued severe weather warnings, Acme Weather introduces a new custom notification tool that allows you to set your notifications based on your top interests and concerns.
As mentioned, Acme Weather is currently only available on iOS, so you’ll have to wait a little longer for its Android debut. Although it’s early days, Acme Weather already looks like a faithful continuation of what Dark Sky started, and it’s causing some problems for Apple’s Weather app.
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